I don’t think we covered the original discovery of this one (Adrian Murdoch did):
ARCHAEOLOGICAL work to determine the full extent of a massive Roman mosaic uncovered in a Cotswold field will resume shortly.
Metal detector enthusiasts Paul Ballinger and John Carter uncovered a section of the ancient mosaic in January last year in a field near Kemble.
It is believed to date back to the 4th Century and could be up to 40-foot in diameter which would make it the biggest Roman mosaic in north west Europe.
from the Standard
Archaeologists from Gloucestershire County Council say they will be performing further testing on the site, which is an agricultural field, throughout the summer with the permission of the landowner.
GCC county archaeologist Jan Wills told the Standard they would be using advanced surveying techniques to measure the electrical resistance and magnetic fields of the land.
“Soil affected by human occupancy will have higher magnetic values than regular soil,” she said.
“There’s some building debris over it so it’s not going to be possible to identify the extent of the mosaic using just these techniques.”
English Heritage may designate the site as Scheduled Monument once the full extent of the mosaic and buildings are determined.
Mrs Wills added: “From what we know it’s an important site and we have to tread carefully.”
I wonder how many other sites are in similar circumstances …
An ancient sanctuary of the Roman god Mithras, located in the Rodopi Mountains border region between Greece and Bulgaria, was shown for the first time since its discovery in 1915.
The archaeological site is located 6 kilometres into Greece from the Greek-Bulgarian border, near the Greek town of Thermes. Discovered in 1915 by Bulgarian archaeologist Bogdan Filov, no archaeological research of the site was carried out since and knowledge of it was based only on his writings. Archaeologists suspect that at the foot of the rock complex, there is a large temple dating to Late Antiquity, but excavations will have to confirm this.
The Iron Curtain made it unthinkable for Bulgarian archaeologists to access the site, while their Greek counterparts showed no interest in it, so it was left forgotten for decades.
After the recent opening of the new border control point between Greece and Bulgaria and the road between the Bulgarian town of Zlatograd and the Greek Thermes, the rock sanctuary became accessible to visitors.
Being located in the forest near Thermes, the site until a month ago was concealed by trees and bushes. But then, according to Bulgarian media, enthusiasts from Zlatograd had local Greeks clean up the terrain, making Mithras’s bas-relief and the holy water spring visible and the site accessible.
Until the fourth century, Mithras was the most venerated god in the Roman Empire, archaeologists explained, before he was replaced by Christianity as the official religion. The bas-relief at the site, like all other images of Mithras in his temples, shows the god offering a bull as a sacrifice.
“This is the only sanctuary of Mithras, known thus far to exist in the Rodopi Mountains. Considering the fact that [what is apparent] is a veneration of the rock, we can see that the complex is a rock complex, and we can only connect the cult of Mithras, which dates to the third and fourth centuries, to earlier cults of the Thracians to the rocks,” Bulgarian archaeologist Professor Nikolay Ovcharov told media when the complex was presented.
“We hardly know anything about this region south of the border,” Professor Ovcharov said. “This area needs to be jointly researched together with Greek archaeologists,” he added.
In addition to joint excavations, the Mithras sanctuary will be included in a joint tourist route between the two countries.
The god Mithras, who became popular among the military in the Roman Empire from the first to the fourth centuries, was the center of a mystery religion known as the Mithraic Mysteries, information on which is based on surviving monuments. Besides showing Mithras as being born from a rock and sacrificing a bull, little else is known for certain.
In the wake of the collapse at the Domus Aurea a week or so ago, Andrea Carandini has voiced his concerns that something similar/worse lies in store for Hadrian’s Villa … here’s the incipit of a piece at Il Messaggero:
«Temo che quello che è accaduto martedì alla Domus Aurea possa capitare anche a Villa Adriana». Sono le parole di Andrea Carandini, presidente del Consiglio superiore dei Beni Culturali, dopo il crollo che ha interessato ieri parte del soffitto dell’edificio. «A Villa Adriana per non arrivare al disastro – ha detto Carandini – sarebbe fondamentale operare un monitoraggio continuo, ma l’idea prevalente è che se cade un muro lo si può sempre ricostruire. Invece quella struttura, con il crollo, non ci sarà più e sarà sostituita solo da un surrogato. Anche Villa Adriana rientra nell’allarme già lanciato. Dopo l’attenzione generata dal crollo alla Domus Aurea, bisogna evitare il ritorno alla sonnolenza. La prevenzione non è entrata bene nel nostro modo di pensare ma è una strada che costa meno dei restauri».
The article goes on to mention one of the folks in charge of safety at the Domus Aurea suggesting it will take more than a year and a half to restore the collapsed portion and make it safe again. There is also some criticism (by (former minister of culture?) Giovanna Melandri) of budgetary cuts to archaeological protection of close to 15% compared to last year. In contrast, another voice praises the minister Bondi for his willingness to listen to and cooperate with archaeologists. I still can’t figure out heritage issues in Italy …
This one’s already making the rounds on Twitter (DK, LP) … very interesting:
An Italian doctor claims to have found the first Italian case of death from gluten intolerance in a female skeleton uncovered at an Ancient Roman site.The skeleton was found in the ancient town of Cosa, today’s Ansedonia, in southern Tuscany.Giovanni Gasbarrini, a doctor at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, examined bone DNA from the woman, who died in the first century AD at the age of 18-20.
Gasbarrini, whose study has been published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, noted that the young woman’s jewelry indicated she came from a wealthy family but her DNA suggested she died of malnutrition.
Gluten intolerance, or coeliac disease, prevents proper absorption of nutrients, leading to severe intestinal problems, physical wasting, and even lymphomas.The skeleton was unusually small and showed signs of osteoporosis or bone weakness, Gasbarrini pointed out.
He said that because of her privileged circumstances the woman probably had a rich diet including wheat, a food packed with gluten.
Gluten intolerance affects an estimated one in 150 people but is rarely fatal today because its symptoms are easily spotted and sufferers avoid all foods containing gluten.
The first cases in history are believed to have been diagnosed by a celebrated ancient Greek physician, Aretaeus of Cappadocia first century AD, who identified children in agricultural communities who presented stomach problems typical of the disease.
The latest discovery “could help reconstruct the phylogenetic tree of the disease,” Gasbarrini said.
Ancient graves were found in the Urbnisi village of the Kareli region during the construction of a highway. About 20 sarcophaguses were discovered dating back to the 4th and 5th centuries.
Road department representatives invited a group of archaeologists from the Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University to the area to examine the findings. The relevant activities are being implemented by the group chaired by Vakhtang Licheli.
According Licheli, 20 Christian sarcophaguses were found.
“Investigation of this area alone is not enough because many graves have been destroyed in the Urbnisi village and all of them require further study. So this requires funding,” Licheli said.
Several months ago, an ancient stamp was found in the yard of an Avlevi village resident which, according to scientists, dates back to the early Hellenistic era.
rogueclassicism 